Tengchong produces high quality gems and jadeite. Rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties forbade sea voyages, so Myanmar gems and jadeite had to be transported by caravan over a mountainous route to Tengchong, their only port of entry in China. It is said that Tengchong was once an opulent world of gems that flourished from trading and processing these precious goods. Many of its streets were inlaid with fragments of jade and jadeite left over from processing.
Local annals record that the early Republican period (1912-1949)was the zenith of jade trading and processing. At that time, Tengchong had over 3,000 jade and jadeite artisans, and annual imports of jade were worth 30,000 taels of silver. Today there are still jade shops and several large wholesale markets in the county seat. The price of red and green jadeite ranges from a few yuan to millions of yuan apiece.
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